


Princess, Android, Time Lady?

by lost_spook



Series: Happy Endings, Hasty Exits [10]
Category: Doctor Who (1963)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Humor, Romana is awesome, Serial: 101 The Androids of Tara, Women Being Awesome
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-06-14
Updated: 2011-06-14
Packaged: 2017-10-20 10:23:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,503
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/211767
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lost_spook/pseuds/lost_spook
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>The Androids of Tara</i>: Romana, "I'm sorry, Reynart, but I <i>still</i> don't want to marry you!"  Less Romana deciding to stay and more the Doctor making an understandable mistake.  Whoops.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Princess, Android, Time Lady?

He tugged her along to the TARDIS, keeping hold of her hand. “Come along, Romana. No time for dilly-dallying.”

“But, Doctor, really I must protest -.”

“I said, come along!”

*

He watched the time rotor fall and rise and then turned to her. “Now, Romana -.”

“I’m not Romana. I have been trying to tell you for quite some time,” she said. “Do you always take this little notice of your friend?”

K9 piped up, “Master, I also attempted to inform you of your error-.”

“You’re not Romana? What do you mean, you’re not Romana?” he stopped, stared at her and clutched his head. “Oh dear. You must be the Princess Strella,” he said. Then he paused, boggled for a moment and caught hold of her. “You’re Princess Strella!”

She nodded, pulling away with dignity. “I said as much.”

He gazed ahead of him. “That’s not good.”

“Isn’t it? All you have to do is open the door and let me go back home again -.”

He frowned. “I’ll try, but I’m on a quest, you see. I bet there’ll be trouble if I double back on myself. And it’s really not that simple. This is a ship and we’ve left port.”

“Well, I shall be most troublesome if you don’t,” she said. “Doctor, I’ve only now found Reynart again and regained my liberty. We must marry and restore peace to Tara. Otherwise Grendel will doubtless return, and you know what manner of man he is.”

The Doctor had to agree. He did. And he had a feeling the High Council would be disapproving of someone who mislaid the assistant they’d sent him. At the same time, he also had the feeling that the White Guardian wouldn’t approve of a brief trip back to the place he’d just been to.

“Come on, old girl,” he urged the TARDIS in a whisper, patting the console. “I know she was nothing but a nuisance and a know-it-all but we can’t go abandoning people on random planets, now can we?”

*

Romana sighed. “I hate to be awkward, Reynart, but I still don’t want to marry you.”

“No,” he agreed. “But what are we to tell the waiting people?”

She bit her lip.

“The Doctor will bring her back, won’t he?”

She wanted to say yes, but the Doctor was the most unpredictable person she’d ever met and his TARDIS wasn’t much less erratic. “I hope so.”

“In the meantime, we must find a suitable excuse. Perhaps you could be unwell after your long imprisonment?”

“I’m quite sure that neither I nor Princess Strella would be so feeble, but if one must, one must.” Romana gave a shrug. “I suppose I will have chance to practise embroidery. It isn’t as simple as it appears, no matter what your fiancée claims. Rather challenging and restful at the same time. Intriguing. A little frivolous, but in the circumstances...”

His Majesty King Reynart coughed politely and forbore to tell his would-be bride’s duplicate that at times she made no more sense than her eccentric friend, the Doctor.

*

To say that the Doctor wasn’t fond of his home planet was a considerable understatement, but eventually, he felt that it was time to switch off the randomiser and return to them and attempt to explain the actions of the White Guardian, which they’d probably accept, and then his own carelessness in taking the wrong woman, which would be more difficult. Time Lords always recognised their own, so a slip like that, well, doubtless there’d be some talk of blame and what have you and these sorts of things were always awkward. He’d probably get arrested again.

“Ready?” he said to K9 and they stepped out into the Capitol.

*

“Doctor,” said Romana, waiting to greet him as he emerged from the ship. “I wondered when you’d finally decide to reappear.”

He stared behind him at the TARDIS and then back at her. “But this is wonderful! How did you get back home? Don’t tell me, the Guardian arranged it all or -.”

She glared until he got the point, then she put her hands on her hips and said, “No, Doctor. I waited for as long as I could for you to return, by which time there seemed to be no other option than to bow to public pressure, marry Reynart and become Queen of Tara.”

“Ah.”

Romana shrugged. “Not a _great_ hardship, Doctor. Besides, as you had disrupted the timeline by abducting the rightful heir to the throne, someone had to mend matters. After a long, prosperous and peaceful reign, I thought I should find a way to remove myself before anyone decided I must be an android.”

“What did your husband say to that?”

She thought. “Oh. Didn’t I mention that? I’d buried him by that point -.”

“Well, I hope he was dead!”

She raised an eyebrow. “That, Doctor, is not a very amusing remark. Certainly a poor joke to make to the man’s widow.”

“Yes, I suppose so,” he said, shrugging into the collar of coat with embarrassment. “Do go on, Romana. This is fascinating.”

She said, “Naturally, I worked on building myself a communicator with the materials to hand and contacted Gallifrey. They were as alarmed as I was about the potential damage to the history of Tara and retrieved me. So, here I am. And, finally, after all these years, here _you_ are.”

“Yes, well, I meant to come back, but it was rather tricky what with the quest and the tracer. The Guardian really wasn’t very sympathetic about the whole thing. And then there was the randomiser, because I’d annoyed the Black Guardian -.”

“And what did you do with the Princess?”

“What do you mean, what did I do with the Princess?”

“I should have thought even you could have understood a perfectly plain question, Doctor.”

He smiled widely. “Ah, yes, Strella. Well, we had some fun, running around random places. Not as useful as you, of course, but still -.”

“Oh, of course. And where is she?”

“Well, the usual. She met some chap she took a fancy to and decided to leave me.”

Romana paused. “So, currently, you’re travelling alone?”

“Not alone, mistress,” said another voice.

She crouched down. “K9! How lovely to see you. I hope he has been looking after you properly?”

“He takes adequate care of me, Mistress. I did tell him he had the Princess -.”

She patted him. “Oh, I’m sure you did, K9. I don’t blame you in the least for this fiasco.”

“So, what now?” said the Doctor. “Are you going to have me arrested?”

Romana smiled. “Of course not. Certain of our colleagues here have been most impressed with my abilities to rule a planet. They are suggesting I should run for President.”

“Well, I suppose you’d do a wonderful job. You couldn’t be worse than some of the others we’ve had. Won’t Borusa be rather cross?”

She sighed. “Doctor, I’ve had quite enough of royal regalia and being solemn and making all the decisions. Can’t I run away with you? Provided you promise never to make a mistake like that again.”

“I thought you were angry with me.”

She said, “Oh, I was furious, but that was fifty years ago. I've stitched my way through six tapestries since then. What do you say?”

“Well -.”

Romana added thoughtfully, “And it’s about time I had a change, don’t you think?”

“A change?”

She pushed him into the TARDIS. “Oh, do hurry up, before someone comes along and tries to stop us.”

“I’m still thinking about it, and if this is the way you’re going to bully me -.”

“I’ll ask K9, then. K9, shall I come with you?”

“Affirmative, Mistress.”

Romana swept past the Doctor, through the narrow door. “You’re outvoted. Now are you going to let me pilot the ship this time?”

“What?” he said as he shut the doors. “Pilot the ship? I don’t know about that, but I can see all this playing at being queen has given you a swollen head, my girl. You need taking down a peg or two!”

She advanced on him. “Doctor, did you spend years arguing with a lot of stubborn old men to bring in educational reforms? Or finally give the order to have that rat Grendel executed, because you let him go? And I’m not even going to start on that outbreak of plague and the horrendous state of the medical system, or trying to put a stop to all those ridiculous duels, or – or – any of the rest of it.”

“Hah,” he said. “That proves my point. If your head were any larger, you might as well be walking around with a pumpkin on your shoulders.”

Romana paused. “What’s a pumpkin?”

“Oh, now, that’s a tricky question,” he said, with his very widest smile. “I could always show you, though.”

She said, “I’m sure that would be better. Your explanations never were very clear.”

“You know,” said the Doctor, “I’m beginning to remember exactly why I left you behind in the first place…”

***


End file.
